Assignment by John Vanloo of San Francisco-based Waterloo Beverages LLC to develop & manufacture the Westoek Ale – 6% ABV at & by the Deca Brewery. As this was a very complex recipe to deal with, Deca asked Urbain Coutteau, brew master at Struise to collaborate on this project. 4 grain Blond dry triple ale married to a soft English bitter. Urbain’s Magnum hops for bittering, Styrian Goldings for different aroma hop gifts in the boil, late boil & flame out, Hallertauer Mittelfrueh for dry hopping.

Poured into my duvel tulip, reviewing this as a triple just doesnt seem right as its way more a dubbel/saison than anything. Pours a nice cloudy golden brown with a 1 inch of head that quickly dissipates but leaves a nice small cap. Very muted on the nose, some sweet doughy bread and fruity spice. Taste has interesting sour cherries/strawberries, with sweet malt, floral and spicy yeast notes as well. Very drinkable beer, but really not the complex or interesting especially at its price point.

The beer pours a solid gold color with pretty good head retention and OK lacing. The nose is attractive, showcasing light honey, orange juice and a hint of vanilla. The flavor profile generally replicates the nose, except this beer has a hoppy bite I wasn't expecting on the finish. The hoppy bitterness in the finish counters the light sweetness very nicely in this beer, and leads to a fairly long, dry, lightly bitter finish. Drinkability is good, with the alcohol well integrated into the flavor profile.

Shrug. While nothing to write home about, this is an easy to appreciate and enjoy beer from this new to me brewery.

Beyond farm ale aroma, beyond barnyard aroma, funky and cruel. The taste is yeasty, there is some fruityness and brett and wood and earth as I hold my nose. Carbonation tingly mouthfeel. Yet, still decent drinkability.Ken's bottle from Struise directly

Pours a cloudy yellow colour with huge white head. Lots of lacing down the glass. Smells of barnyard funkiness with some peach. Very unique smelling tripel, I'd think this was a saison or something. Very sweet flavour, with the barnyard funk being present in the after-taste. Huge carbonation level was the only real downside for me.

A big thanks to Carlo and Urbain for letting me first try this back during Thanksgiving before it hit the shelves... The beer pours as a medium cloudy gold, hits of dark orange. A nice off white head leaves about two fingers, nice cap and lacing... This is a west coast tripel, yeast, floral notes, sweet, citrus with a hop finish. I like it, a touch sweet though... The taste reminds me of just a lighter triple, floral hops, and hops. Not as sweet now. Super easy to drink.

A - Foamy head, about two fingers that had good retention and dissipated to a nice cap with fine lace left on the sides. Beer itself is a golden, orangish color that's somewhat hazy. Not sure what else you could do to make this look better.

S - As Alex has pointed out, the hoppyness of this one puts it somewhere in the nether region between Belgian IPA and Tripel. Fruit notes and yeast with some earthy hops are there.

T - Floral hops, belgian yeast, sweet fruits. This is not bad, but kind of bland/boring. Easy to get down.

M - Medium bodied with low to moderate carbonation.

D - Really easy to drink at 6%, although the yeast may knock it down a notch for people (like myself) that find that hard to do. Solid beer, worth trying.

Bottled ordered from the de Struise webshop. Served in my Westvleteren chalice. Best before November 2014.

A - Pours with two-plus fingers of creamy white foam that slow settles to a thick, chunky cap, leaving behind copious intricate lace patterns. Body is a lightly hazed golden peach color. This is just about perfect for the style.

T - Taste is a little bland and yeasty, with light stone fruits and a spicy finish. More in line with a standard Belgian Singel, but without the medicinal notes.

M - Pleasant active carbonation that is soft but tingly at the same time. Medium body, pleasant texture, and a fairly clean finish.

D - This is absolutely crushable. Too bad I have to order it from Belgium, as it'd be an excellent Belgian session brew. Perhaps a little to bland to actively seek out, but worth trying if you need to fill out your webshop order (or if you're at Deca).

Flavor is very dry and refreshing. Again, theres a lot of wheat, yeast, and almost a bit of butter-diacetyl action. Hops are quite bitter, actually, but also lend a nice citrusy component on the mid-palate. Reminiscent of Orval. The mouthfeel is relatively creamy and full, with fine, ample carbonation.

Though I get shades of Karmeliet and other Tripels, I can't help but think this beer is more of Belgian Pale Ale, with the hoppiness, lower ABV and all. Whatever the style, it's good stuff.

It pours a hazy brownish orange with a 2 finger head of foam and has plenty of lacing.

The smell has some citrus notes along with an aroma of bananas. The more I stick my nose over the glass, the more I notice the citrus hops. For a Tripel, it's pretty hop forward but I also get some sweet malt tones so it's pretty balanced in that regard.

Sweet is what my palate senses to start things off followed by that very tasty blast of citrus and the banana flavour has more of a background presence except when I burp..and I seem to be doing that a lot with this brew, hence a comment on the label:

I got this beer from my beerbuddy Wim (Beerpirates) who was at the Deca brewerie some days ago to help Urbain from the Struise Brouwers. This beer is for the American market. (San Francisco, Waterloo beverages). Deca was asked to brew this one and asked Urbain to help them with this beer. And he did!

The beer is called Westoek which will stand for Westhoek, that part of Belgium where so many good brewers live like the Struise, Bernardus and Westvleteren. I wrote WeSthoek in stead of Westoek!!

This should be a Flemish triple ale. Well, lets try it. Poured in the Struise glass the beer looks good. Somewhat cloudy yellow fluid with tiny strings of carbonation.

The smell of banana/light citrus. Dry taste. The first to review it. I am curious what the rest of you will think of this beer when it comes to you in januari